9 Best Articles in 2020
VICE
Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware
VICE
10 min read · 4151 saves · From 2017 · A dive into the thriving black market of John Deere tractor hacking.
Gizmodo
How Facebook Figures Out Everyone You've Ever Met
Gizmodo
9 min read · 698 saves · From 2017 · In real life, in the natural course of conversation, it is not uncommon to talk about a person you may know. You meet someone…
The Atlantic
China Is the First Surveillance Superpower
The Atlantic
20+ min read · 587 saves · Jul 29th · Ross Andersen · Xi Jinping is using artificial intelligence to enhance his government’s totalitarian control—and he’s exporting this technology to regimes around the globe.
Fast Company
Exclusive: Tim Berners-Lee tells us his radical new plan to upend the World Wide Web
Fast Company
4 min read · 584 saves · From 2018 · With an ambitious decentralized platform, the father of the web hopes it’s game on for corporate tech giants like Facebook and Google.
Guardian Tech
Internet privacy: the apps that protect you from your apps
Guardian Tech
7 min read · 538 saves · Feb 16th · Alex Hern · Worried about the data collected about you? A new generation of startups is making apps to put your privacy settings straight
medium.freecodecamp.com
How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour
medium.freecodecamp.com
4 min read · 524 saves · From 2016 · “Only the paranoid survive.” — Andy Grove
The New York Times
Opinion | Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy
The New York Times
~19 min read · 503 saves · 2019-12-19 · What we learned from the spy in your pocket.
Bloomberg
Palantir Knows Everything About You
Bloomberg
20+ min read · 501 saves · From 2018 · Facebook isn’t the only company capable of watching every step you take. Bloomberg Businessweek profiles the big-data firm Palantir Technologies, which has evolved from helping the US…
VICE
Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data
VICE
9 min read · 475 saves · Jan 27th · An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and…
New this week
Recently popular
WIRED
‘Do Not Track’ Is Back, and This Time It Might Work
WIRED
2 min read · 155 saves · Oct 7th · California’s privacy law says businesses must respect universal opt-outs. Now the technology finally exists to put that to the test.
The New York Times
Does Palantir See Too Much?
The New York Times
88 saves · Oct 21st · Michael Steinberger · The tech giant helps governments and law enforcement decipher vast amounts of data — to mysterious and, some say, dangerous ends.
The New York Times
Activists Turn Facial Recognition Tools Against the Police
The New York Times
6 min read · 82 saves · Oct 21st · Kashmir Hill · “We’re now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys,” one researcher said.
Fast Company
Switching from Chrome to Firefox can supercharge your privacy in minutes
Fast Company
7 min read · 57 saves · Oct 12th · Sean Captain · Firefox offers the speed and convenience of Chrome—and protects you from prying eyes.
The Intercept
Google AI Tech Will Be Used for Virtual Border Wall, CBP Contract Shows
The Intercept
8 min read · 42 saves · Oct 21st · Google Cloud will be used in conjunction with Anduril Industries’ surveillance tech on the U.S.-Mexico border.
MIT Technology Review
Live facial recognition is tracking kids suspected of being criminals
MIT Technology Review
3 min read · 42 saves · Oct 9th · In Buenos Aires, the first known system of its kind is hunting down minors who appear in a national database of alleged offenders.
The Markup
Is Your Favorite Podcast Tracking You?
The Markup
7 min read · 40 saves · Oct 8th · Podcast listening is hard to track, but that doesn’t mean advertisers aren’t trying
Financial Times
From AI to facial recognition: how China is setting the rules in new tech
Financial Times
38 saves · Oct 7th · In its bid to rival the US, Beijing wants to establish the industrial standards that will shape future industries
VICE
An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics With Lawsuits
VICE
5 min read · 37 saves · Oct 21st · One man says he lost his savings after being sued by Proctorio, whose software tracks physical movements to detect “abnormal” behavior during exams.
WIRED
Facebook Promises Privacy Reform. Critics Aren't Convinced
WIRED
2 min read · 18 saves · Oct 22nd · In an interview with WIRED, Facebook's chief privacy officers argue that the company has turned a corner. Again.
